Arcades and World Expositions (Week 2 extra)

• The arcades: Original temples of commodity capitalism that beamed onto Paris like fairy grottoes.
• Constructed like a church in the shape of a cross to connect with surrounding streets.
• Privately owned passages displayed commodities in window showcases.
• Pleasure houses within the arcades tempted passersby with food, drinks, gambling, theaters, and sexual pleasures, all for sale.
• The phantasmagoria of display reached its height in the international expositions.

World Expositions

• The first world exposition was held in London in 1851.
• The Crystal Palace was constructed of iron and glass, like the arcades, but larger.
• Industrial products were displayed as artworks, competing with gardens and statues.
• Described as "incomparably fairylike," blending nature and technology.
• The expositions led to the development of department stores.
• Paris hosted significant international expositions, including those in 1855, 1867, 1889 and 1900.
• The 1867 Paris fair was compared to the Colosseum due to its massive scale and unfamiliar design. Exhibits were like total works of art.
• The fairs gave rise to the "pleasure industry," teaching the masses to adapt to advertisements.
• Spectators were instructed to "Look, but don't touch" at the fairs.
• World's fairs, unlike arcades, focused on mass entertainment.
• Displayed objects function as folk festivals of capitalism.
• Proletarians were encouraged to view the wonders their class produced but could not afford.
• The Passagen-Werk examines the effect of fairs on workers and their class organization.
• The fairs provided an opportunity for workers from different nations to meet.
• International Workingman's Association may have arisen from the world exposition
• The fairs presented industry and technology as powers for peace, harmony, and abundance.
• The message promoted social progress without revolution, denying class antagonisms.
• Even workers' delegations to the fairs were co-opted, limiting revolutionary potential.

National Progress on Display

• World expositions became displays of national progress.
• Each exposition was intended to prove the realization of utopian goals.
• Governments became heavily involved, blurring the lines between them and entrepreneurs.
• "National" pavilions promoted national grandeur, turning patriotism into a commodity on display.
• World fairs claimed to promote peace while displaying weapons for sale.

Urbanism

• Benjamin focuses on new urbanism financed by the state, especially in Paris.
• Haussmann's urban renewal projects attempted to create social utopia through urban redesign.
• Haussmann's "strategic beautification" is the origin of modern statism
• Haussmann displaced working-class neighborhoods out of central Paris.
• Public parks created an illusion of social equality.
• Government expanded capitalist coffers with public funds on building projects.
• Railways connected to the heart of Paris, with stations taking over city gates.
• Urban "perspectives" created an appearance of coherence, but were an aesthetic totalitarian plan.
• The Parisian did  no longer feel at home"" in the city""
• The true goal of Haussmann's works was securing the city against civil war.
• Streets were built to counter street barricades and create routes between barracks and working-class sections.

Progress Deified

• Progress was elevated to a near-religious status in the nineteenth century.
• World expositions became its holy shrines, and commodities its cult objects.
• The Saint-Simonians were secular priests, praising industry and distributing tracts.
• Railroad construction was imbued with a sense of mission, uniting people.
• Industrialism promised to eliminate class divisions.
• All social antagonisms are said to dissolve in the tale that progrés is the prospect of the very near future